Is It Really So Bad to Always Be the Bridesmaid, Never the Bride?

There we were: the ten of us… raising our glasses at half-priced wine night at Cafe Deluxe to cheers yet another one of our girls (we've all been best friends since the seventh grade, some of us as far back as elementary school) getting engaged.

Now, almost ten years (that's a scary thought!) after tossing our graduation caps into the air and with it, everything we thought we knew about the world… it seems like we have all, for the most part, settled in to who we are and what we want to be…and I love seeing my girls this happy.

It's been almost a domino effect since Courtney, the first member of our Ya-Ya sisterhood to get engaged, called us all on conference two years ago, breaking the news to us amidst tears and laughter. Since then, the calls have become more frequent, the wedding planning has been kicked into high gear, and our girls' nights out conversations have gone from first-date confessions to talks of color schemes and centerpieces.

As I look around the table at my best friends comparing rings, trading proposal stories, and wedding planning frustrations, I can't help but laugh. Life really does have a funny way of turning out just the way you never expected it would. You see, Courtney was the girl who swore she wouldn't say "I do" until she'd traveled the world, blown out the candles on her 30th birthday cake, and dated around as much as she could. Well, she was the first to go, and I was her maid of honor.

Yep, that was what started my run as a professional bridesmaid. Now, you could say I am much like the Katherine Heigl's character in 27 Dresses. My (albeit small) closet is packed with Priscilla of Boston and J. Crew bridesmaid collection dresses--different colors, different seasons, but all a visual illustration of that ever-so-famous colloquialism "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride."

And, it's with the same amount of humor that I view my "always a bridesmaid" status that I did Courtney being the first of our girls to get engaged. Because, the kicker is, I'm 27 and the co-founder of a wedding website, DressRush.com…and I'm NOT married. Engaged? No, not that either. My friends jokingly tease me that I'm married to my job… that I am too busy planning and writing about everyone else's weddings, to possibly be focused on my own.

But it's this night, as we sit on the back patio of the restaurant saying goodbye to one of my best friends, who just got back from her honeymoon and is leaving in the morning to move to Charleston, SC … that I really start thinking about this "always a bridesmaid" thing. As she prepares to embark on a new chapter in her life with her husband, I am getting ready to pack up all of my stuff and move across the country (from DC to San Francisco) for my company and for my what I hope will be a huge career move.

__In a day where women are encouraged to be independent and to pave their own way, does being career focused mean love naturally comes in second place? What makes an "always a bridesmaid, never a bride, type of girl?" Is it a bad thing, or a sign of an independent woman who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to settle? People throw around this expression a lot, what I want to know it, what's really behind it… __

*Sara Morgan currently serves as the Director of Marketing for Weddzilla.com, and co-founder of DressRush.com, where she handles business development and brand strategy. Sara is an entrepreneur at heart, believes strongly in the importance of loving what you do, and is truly passionate about her work. *